2 posts from October 2, 2013

October 02, 2013

Every Wednesday Jameis Winston speaks and every Wednesday we'll provide you the highlights of his interview in a weekly feature called, "The Tao of Jaboo."

Jameis Winston just stopped by to talk about Maryland, facing pressure and how the FSU offense is able to produce at the end of a half so well.

This year the Seminoles have scored touchdowns on all four of their final drives of the first half.

“That’s the way we practice. That’s the way Coach Fisher teaches us to practice," said Winston. "When we are tired and when we have to make something happen, our team usually rises to the occasion and we make something happen.

"We almost were short going into the half [at Boston College], but Kenny Shaw made a great play. We practice our two-minute before the half and two-minute at the end of the game all the time. It’s just a practice habit that we have. And if we execute it at practice we’re going to do it on the field.”

In last weekend's game Winston made arguably the best play of his young career when he bought time, moved outside the pocket and fired a deep ball to Kenny Shaw for the go-ahead touchdown as time expired.

That - and FSU's other late-first half scores - have provided the Seminoles with a ton of momentum heading into the tunnel.

“It is just that shift in momentum that we have to have. We’ve got to learn to start playing with momentum; the momentum always has to be on our side because everyone is out to get us," said Winston. "That’s how we have to feel. And with scoring before the half, usually we get the ball back and that’s 14 points before they even touch the ball. So that’s obviously good. This time we got seven points before they touched the ball and they came back. They had a big kick return but our defense held them and that was good. I mean it was a 14-3 swing I think.”

But Winston is also acutely aware that the 'Noles need to come out and start quicker if they plan on continuing to win this season.

“It’s very easy to pick up your intensity when you’re behind," Winston added. "When you’re a great team you always need to have that intensity. You want to play like that – like you are always behind. That’s why we’re always, ‘Hey, don’t look at the scoreboard. Play like the score is 0-0.’ You always have to play like that chip is always on your shoulder.”

All things considered though, the redshirt freshman signal-caller admits he comes alive in pressure situations.

"Not only am I pumped up, I think everyone else on the team is pumped up," said Winston. "That’s just one thing about our guys, we thrive under pressure. And I think if we can now have a play like we’re always under pressure, I think we’re going to be a great team.”

More from Jaboo:

##- On what he sees from Maryland:

“They have a lot of blitzes. More blitzes than we have seen, just from the variety. Some teams might be secondary blitz teams, some might be like edge pressures, but they have a lot of blitzing pressures they can get to. And then they mix up their fronts so sometimes we don’t know if it’s three-down or sometimes we don’t know if it’s four-down. They do a good job with that.”

##- On looking down the field when the blitz comes:

“When they blitz a ton, we really harp on that. I mean, when I’m getting pressured, somebody is going to be one-on-one. And with the guys that we have around, a big play is about to happen.”

##- On his receivers:

“It makes my job easy. If any quarterback in the country had wide receivers like that, they’d be happy. I mean, because those guys are top notch guys. Any one of them can go first round. They are amazing.”

##- On Chad Abram:

“Chad is actually my roommate. He’s a great guy. He’s athletic. He probably has a pair of the best hands on the team. He can catch the ball, obviously he juggled that one, but Chad don’t miss nothing that comes his way. He’s so unselfish. I mean he can run, he came here as a safety so he’s very athletic and has a great skill set. But that’s one thing that Coach Fisher talks about: knowing your role and knowing what you have and what your part is to this team. And he’s playing a very important part.”

For all the latest Florida State news and updates follow Patrik Nohe on Twitter...

Florida State has just announced the baseball schedule for the upcoming season and there should be plenty of good baseball to keep fans entertained come next Spring.

The Seminoles start the season by hosting Niagara and making a one-game trip to Jacksonville before returning to Tallahassee for back-to-back series with Georgia and Miami at Dick Howser Stadium.

Interestingly enough the series with the Hurricanes will not count toward either team's conference record.

“We are just very glad that the ACC and the coaches voted to have a permanent partner in the future so that way we will always play Miami as part of our conference schedule,” FSU head coach Mike Martin said via press release. “We will never get into a situation again where we will skip the University of Miami. It is too important for both schools to play each other.”

Eleven teams on this year’s schedule recorded 30 or more wins last year. Seven schools earned a bid to participate in the 2013 NCAA Regional, while five teams finished the season ranked in the top 25.

“I don’t think there is any question that this is one of our toughest schedules that we have had during my time at Florida State,” Martin said. “Anytime you are playing Miami and Georgia in a non-conference series, you have definitely improved your schedule. Over the years, we have been very proud of our strength of schedule.”

In addition to non-conference games against UGA and Miami, FSU will also play its year home-away-neutral series with Florida while also making two-game visits to UCF and USF.

“Playing against other schools from Florida is great for this state,” added Martin. “We have some outstanding ball clubs in the state of Florida and it gives our fans a chance to come and see us play. It is also great for us to showcase our program in certain parts of the state that we haven’t been to in a very long time.”

The ACC Baseball Tournament returns to Greensboro, N.C. from May 20-25, marking the third time in five years. FSU’s last league title came in Greensboro when the Seminoles defeated the NC State Wolfpack, 8-3, in 2010.